Definitive Technology BP-2002, BP-2X, C/L/R 2002, C-2002, L-2002 Brochure
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Definitive Technology
BP-2002 Speaker System
BP-2002 Main Speaker, C/L/R-2002 Center, BP-2X Surrounds
NEW BP-2002TL
NOW even more incredible
with 250-watt amp
to be entertained, to relax and focus
on the music, not to have to hold my
head precisely the same distance
By Brent Butterworth
“It was literally staggering!”
“…you’ll be
blown away
by the
BP2002s and
demand
we
that you go
hear ‘em.”
Overall Rating
One of the best we’ve
ever heard
A. A bracket on its
behind makes the
BP-2X easy to hang
on the wall.
B. The BP-2002 has a
significantly different
design than its sib-
ling, the BP-2000, but
its sound is similar.
I can’t understand why everyone’s
so up in arms about downsizing. I’ll
admit all this corporate layoff stuff
has its bleak, depressing side, but
for a guy who grew up ordering
“husky”-size pants from the Sears
catalog—and who certainly hasn’t
gotten any smaller since then—the
word downsizing always has a
positive ring to it.
There’s one recent downsizing
that we can be happy about: the
new Definitive Technology BP2002 speaker.
Flush with the
incredible success of last
year’s BP-2000,
which we’ve
heard is currently the bestselling speaker
in the price
range,
Definitive
decided to see
if it could create a smaller
version of the
BP-2000, one
that would
B
A
better fit apartments and smaller
living rooms (not to mention smaller budgets).
The result is the BP-2002, which
looks almost identical to the BP-
2000. It also shares the two design
ideas that made the BP-2000 what
“It’s very tight,
very well-defined
and very deep.”
it is: It uses a bipolar driver configuration, with speaker drivers
mounted on both the front and
back panels of the speaker; and
each speaker has its own built-in
powered subwoofer.
Seems I’ve become something of
a champion for the bipolar sound.
That’s because most A/V writers
judge gear by some sort of theoretical benchmark of “accuracy” (as if
they know what the hell a certain
recording’s supposed to sound like
in the first place), and many consider bipolar sound to be inherently
inaccurate. I prefer to judge sound
by simply how much I dig it. I want
“…the speakers
sounded fantastic….”
C
“...the big, exciting
bipolar sound is what
does it for me....”
from my stereo speakers so I can get
pinpoint sonic imaging. And the big,
exciting bipolar sound is what does
it for me (especially on the purist,
“accurate” stereo-miked recordings
I’ve produced myself). The mix of
the direct sound from the drivers in
the front and reflected sound from
the rear drivers makes both music
and movies sound more spacious,
and less like they’re coming from a
set of speakers. The downside is that
you don’t get the pinpoint sonic
imaging that conventional, direct
radiating speakers
provide. But you
do get a much
bigger sweet spot,
so the speakers
sound good from
one end of the
couch to the
other.... I’m here to
tell you that I’ve
eked more longterm pleasure out
of bipolars than
from any other
speaker I’ve used.
The BP-2000
used two midrange/
woofer drivers and
C. The C/L/R shares
the same tweeter
and mid/woofers as
the 2002, creating a
smooth sonic blend.
a single tweeter on each side; Definitive
downsized the BP-2002 in part by laying
off one of the mid/woofs. Thus, each side of
“...music and movies
sound more spacious...”
a BP-2002 has one 5.25-inch poly-cone
mid/woof and one 1-inch aluminum dome
tweeter. The crossovers, which keep the
high frequencies out of the woofer and the
lows out of the tweeter, are set at slightly
different frequencies for each half of the
speaker to help even out the frequency
response.
Another place Definitive chose to cut is
the subwoofer—in each BP-2002,
Definitive uses a 12-inch driver powered by
a 125-watt amp, as compared to the BP2000’s 15-inch driver and 300-watt amp.
You can hook up the subs in a variety of
ways. The back panel of each speaker has
three sets of binding posts: one for the
tweeters, one for the mid/woofs, and one for
the sub. Nearby are two line-level inputs on
RCA jacks, one for a conventional linelevel input, and one designed for use with
the subwoofer output on Dolby Digital
processors. Even though using the linelevel inputs can give you a sonic advantage, I found that simply running one set of
speaker cables to the speaker and installing
the provided jumpers between the three
sets of binding posts was by far the easiest
way to use the BP-2002s. Given that the
speakers sounded fantastic this way, I
didn’t sweat the hookup any further.
“The BP2002s
definitely sounded
the most to my liking….”
With such a significantly different
design—and a cabinet that measures 7
inches shorter, 1.7 inches slimmer, and 2.2
inches shallower—you wouldn’t expect the
BP-2002 to sound quite the same as the
BP-2000. It doesn’t, although the two
resemble each other sonically far more than
they differ. We found that the BP-2002
actually sounds more open and spacious
than the BP-2000, probably because the
2000’s twin mid/woofs produce a very tight
vertical dispersion pattern. The BP-2000’s
a bit more dynamic, with somewhat lower
bass response and more ease at extremely
high volumes, so I prefer it for movie
soundtracks. But I think I actually like the
BP-2002 a little better for music.
Associate editor Brian Clark and I compared the BP-2002 with four other speakers
we had on hand, including our reference
NHT VT-2s, the Radias reviewed in this
issue, and a pair of DCM TimeFrame 8.0s
we just got in. The BP-2002s definitely
sounded the most to my liking—although
they produced a slight lower-treble emphasis that made voices sound a little less
smooth in the midrange than with the NHT
and DCM models, the dynamics and spaciousness of the BP-2002’s sound were just
staggering. And I’m not just saying that. It
was literally staggering! When we played
“Once I Wished a Tree Upside Down” from
“...I’ve eked more longterm pleasure out of
bipolars than from any
other speaker I’ve used.”
the Indian percussionist Trilok Gurtu’s
Living Magic CD, a tune that offers perhaps
the best sonic imaging I’ve ever heard, I
was surprised enough that I bounced back
against my seat. I’ve heard this tune on
hundreds of speakers, but never to better
effect than on the BP-2002s. And the bass
is really, really outstanding, better than you
get with most stand-alone subwoofers. It’s
very tight, very well-defined, and very deep.
Brian basically agreed with me, finding no
problems worth complaining about, and
raving about the big sweet spot.
To round the BP-2002s into a complete
home theater system, Definitive offers the
C/L/R-2002 center speaker (which they
also sell as a main left/right speaker), and
the BP-2X surround speaker.
The C/L/R’s designed to match the BP2002 as closely as possible; it uses two of
the BP-2002’s mid/woof drivers and one of
“…you do get a much
bigger sweet spot.”
its tweeters. This way, you get an exceptionally smooth sonic blend, so that sounds
change very little in timbre as they move
from left to center to right. As you’d expect
of a center speaker, it’s shielded so you can
place it atop your TV without distorting the
picture.
Like the BP-2002, the BP-2X is bipolar,
so it has a woofer and tweeter on each of its
two angled sides. The tweeters and woofers
mirror those used in the BP-2002 and
C/L/R-2002. A bracket on the rear makes
the BP-2X easy to hang on the wall, and it’s
“...the dynamics and spaciousness of the BP2002’s
sound are just staggering.”
available in white or black. The bipolar
design makes for a nice compromise
between the super-spacious surround sound
effect you get with THX-type dipolar surround speakers, and the precise sonic
placement you get with direct-radiating surround speakers. Audio critics have begun
to argue heatedly about whether dipoles or
direct-radiators are better for Dolby Digital;
in fact, senior editor Al Griffin and I completely disagree (I love dipoles, while Al
prefers to go direct). The BP-2X lets you
play it safe with sound that’s more directional than a dipole, but more spacious
than a direct-radiator.
In our testing, we encounter a lot of dif-
ferent-sounding speakers, and hear a lot of
-“...the bass is really,
really outstanding, better
than you get with most
stand-alone subwoofers.”
differing opinions from our writers and editors. This makes it impossible to say that
you’re sure to love (or hate) a certain speaker. But we’re at least as sure as we can ever
remember being in saying this: We think
you’ll be blown away by the BP-2002s, and
demand that you go hear ’em!
—Brent Butterworth
“I’ve heard this tune on
hundreds of speakers,
but never to better effect
than on the BP2002s.”
11105 Valley Heights Dr., Baltimore, MD 21117
(410) 363-7148
Reprinted with permission from the November 1996
issue of CurtCo’s HOME THEATER.
Copyright © 1996 by CurtCo Freedom Group.
All Rights Reserved.
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